El Niño fuels climate disasters: The high price of inaction

2026 is set to be one of the hottest years on record, with El Niño worsening the impact of extreme weather events. With COP31 underway in Turkey, FRANCE 24 speaks with the UNDP's climate boss about the cost of waiting in a warmer world, and with one of the student activists from Pacific Island nations who took their climate fight to the UN's highest court, and won. 

Also on the show: 

Indonesia's wildfires rage on as El Niño amplifies the impacts of climate change and deforestation. This natural phenomenon is shifting already warmer seawaters eastwards, fuelling extreme weather events such as typhoons and flash floods. 

Cassie Flynn, Global Director of Climate Change at the United Nations Development Programme, says the world is at a fork in the road. "We can invest now to protect ourselves from the impact, or we pay the price later. Either way, the bill is coming," she says.

Meanwhile, Francine Elisaia, Narratives and Communications Lead at the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change movement, talks about the importance of incorporating human rights into the fight against climate change, while sharing her love of the ocean.